New Technology Allows Bystander To Become Involved Anonymously, Reports Derek Randel Of Stopping School Violence LLC

By eSchool News

February 25th, 2007

WILMETTE, Ill./EWORLDWIRE/Feb. 22, 2007 — Whenever Derek Randel gives a workshop on stopping school violence, he always speaks about the importance of getting bystanders involved. Bystander involvement can make the most significant impact on bullying and school violence.

His ardent enthusiasm for Stopping School Violence LLC brought him to discover a fantastic new way to approach this issue. By teaming up with AnComm, a company that is the leading innovator of technology-based solutions, he found a method that allows students and school personnel to communicate anonymously. His first thought: this would be great for solving bullying issues because students could come forward without the worry of being retaliated against or humiliated. However, the schools that are using AnComm´s system are experiencing students anonymously asking for help on more than just bullying issues including stress, cutting, cheating, depression, fighting, suicide, stealing, peer pressure, drugs, eating disorders, smoking, and alcohol.

"We prevented three suicides in Waco ISD. How can you value that? You don´t know the value of this program because you don´t see the number of suicides that I have experienced. All it takes is one, then you´ll join this program, but why wait?" Dr. Mark Diaz, Manor ISD Superintendent, Manor, Texas.

Students are the best source of information. The AnComm program empowers them to communicate in a comfortable way using a medium that students are familiar with. Here are some students´ requests:

– "Please, he is still trying to make me take drugs. I´ll try to talk more later."

– "Dr. Principal, Jane Doe is going to fight someone today and she will probably have a knife on her please take care of it, please."

– "I was raped yesterday and I think I´m gonna kill him or myself."

– "Dear Ms. Doe I just wanted to tell you goodbye,

I don´t know why I haven´t done this before now, I guess I had a reason to live before but he left me and now I have no reason. You always were nice to me so I wanted to say goodbye. Yours truly, dead by dawn."

The potential to help students and stop incidents goes way beyond bullying and school violence. Randal believes this program´s potential is limitless. It is easy to use, quite affordable but more importantly, provides a direct opportunity to help students in need.